Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s visit to Sekolah Rendah Agama Sri Pantai didn’t turn out as expected as she was barred from entering the school at the eleventh hour following a directive seemingly from the Ministry of Education.

The school’s principal Paridah Mat Zain initially invited Nurul to visit the school to hand over contributions to some 76 underprivileged students.

However, Nurul was informed about the cancellation of the invitation on the morning of her putative visit as the Ministry ‘does not wish to see any politicians in school compounds’, according to Nurul.

She was again prohibited when she attempted to conduct the handover ceremony at a bus station outside of the school.

At a press conference in her service centre later, Nurul revealed that the school authority sought her assistance last week to help the students who were forced to cease their studies due to outstanding school fees.

The arrears ranged from RM177 to RM187, which accumulated to some RM13,000 in total.

Nurul was surprised that the underprivileged students did not receive any help from the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department, which is supposed to look after the school.

“I am curious to know how the RM1.7 million Lembah Pantai constituency funds, which was disbursed by the Prime Minister’s Department for social charity purposes, has been utilised.”

“The students are not getting any allocations from there either,” she said.

The newly-minted PKR vice president launched a flash donation last week to raise the funds for the students.

The students, in return, came to her service centre today to receive the contributions after she was barred from entering the school.

They were given a green packet and a school bag each

Leven Woon is a journalist that interested in social justice, community empowerment and democracy. He believes community is where home is laid and caring is shown.